Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey
by Alison Weir
List Price:
Our Price: $4.99
You Save: $10.01 (67%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Alison WeirEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-11-06
ISBN: 0345495349
Number of pages: 407
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780345495341
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey
Book Review: A compelling historical novel about Lady Jane Grey
Summary: 5 Stars
Lady Jane Grey was born as a disappointment--a daughter instead of a son. Her mother said upon her birth in this historical novel (Page 5): "I should be joyful, thanking God for the arrival of a lusty child. Instead my spirits plummet. All this--for nothing." Daughter of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk and Frances Brandon, grand-daughter of King Henry VII and related to King Henry VIII, her parents' ambition dominated Jane's life. Her parents' goal? A marriage that would bring the family power. The original hope was for her to marry Edward, son of Henry VIII.
As a child, Jane is treated poorly by her parents, although her father shows some interest in her. She is an engaging child, with a curious mind. She enjoys learning--from languages to music to the classics. The book's treatment of her makes her into a little woman when she was probably too young to think in the manner attributable to her. Still, in that era, childhood as we know it did not exist.
Events in the book are portrayed first person, through the eyes of a number of people--from Lady Jane Grey to her parents to Mrs. Ellen to Queen Jane Seymour to Queen Mary to the Duke of Northumberland and so on. While this adds a personal perspective that works pretty well, it can sometimes be a bit too kaleidoscopic for my taste. Through these various characters, we learn of the great events of the day as they happen--Henry VIII's marriages to Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard, Katherine Parr, Edward VI's brief reign, internal and external crises facing the country.
But, of course, the arc of this work is the brief reign of Lade Jane Grey as Queen Jane. Her parents and important figures such as Northumberland maneuvered to make her Queen rather than allowing the Catholic Mary to gain the throne. They trusted that the English citizenry would reject Mary and that they could manipulate Jane as a figurehead to run England as they chose. The novel shows how Jane tried to be a Queen but found herself thwarted by those who would use her. Her miserable marriage to a Dudley did not help matters. After only a fortnight as Queen, forces loyal to Mary overthrew the lot of nobles who had plotted to make Jane Queen. Then, the slow denouement, as Mary slowly came to see that, for many reasons, she had to remove Jane from the scene--although she saw her as innocent. The very title of this work, "Innocent Traitor," says a great deal. The novel ends with real emotional pop, as Jane prepared a simple speech to give before her death. Her dignity, compared with the whimpering of men much more guilty than she, provides a remarkable contrast (this isn't a spoiler; if people don't know what happened to Lady Jane Grey, they don't know much about history!).
Anyhow, despite some problematic choices by the author, Alison Weir, this is a compelling piece of historical fiction. Do read the author's note at the end. The author discusses the choices that she made in writing portions of the book where there is uncertainty in the historical record or where she took a certain degree of creative license.
Summary of Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey
I am now a condemned traitor . . . I am to die when I have hardly begun to live.Historical expertise marries page-turning fiction in Alison Weir?s enthralling debut novel, breathing new life into one of the most significant and tumultuous periods of the English monarchy. It is the story of Lady Jane Grey??the Nine Days? Queen??a fifteen-year-old girl who unwittingly finds herself at the center of the religious and civil unrest that nearly toppled the fabled House of Tudor during the sixteenth century.
The child of a scheming father and a ruthless mother, for whom she is merely a pawn in a dynastic game with the highest stakes, Jane Grey was born during the harrowingly turbulent period between Anne Boleyn?s beheading and the demise of Jane?s infamous great-uncle, King Henry VIII. With the premature passing of Jane?s adolescent cousin, and Henry?s successor, King Edward VI, comes a struggle for supremacy fueled by political machinations and lethal religious fervor.
Unabashedly honest and exceptionally intelligent, Jane possesses a sound strength of character beyond her years that equips her to weather the vicious storm. And though she has no ambitions to rule, preferring to immerse herself in books and religious studies, she is forced to accept the crown, and by so doing sets off a firestorm of intrigue, betrayal, and tragedy.
Alison Weir uses her unmatched skills as a historian to enliven the many dynamic characters of this majestic drama. Along with Lady Jane Grey, Weir vividly renders her devious parents; her much-loved nanny; the benevolent Queen Katherine Parr; Jane?s ambitious cousins; the Catholic ?Bloody? Mary, who will stop at nothing to seize the throne; and the protestant and future queen Elizabeth. Readers venture inside royal drawing rooms and bedchambers to witness the power-grabbing that swirls around Lady Jane Grey from the day of her birth to her unbearably poignant death. Innocent Traitor paints a complete and compelling portrait of this captivating young woman, a faithful servant of God whose short reign and brief life would make her a legend.
?An impressive debut. Weir shows skill at plotting and maintaining tension, and she is clearly going to be a major player in the . . . historical fiction game.?
?The Independent
?Alison Weir is one of our greatest popular historians. In her first work of fiction . . . Weir manages her heroine?s voice brilliantly, respecting the past?s distance while conjuring a dignified and fiercely modern spirit.?
?London Daily Mail
From the Hardcover edition.
Historical Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Historical Books
Pirate Latitudes: A Novelby Michael Crichton
Harper; Published: 2009-11-24; Roughcut; Book
Best price: $2.44
Price in other shops:
The Master Butchers Singing Club: A Novelby Louise Erdrich
Harper Perennial; Published: 2004-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.83
Price in other shops:
The Last Witchfinder: A Novelby James Morrow
William Morrow; Published: 2006-03-14; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
Zorroby Isabel Allende
HarperAudio; Published: 2005-05-03; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $3.03
Price in other shops:
The Hot Kid: A Novelby Elmore Leonard
William Morrow; Published: 2005-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.89
Price in other shops:
The Last Kingdom (The Saxon Chronicles Series #1)Mass Market Paperback; Book
Bones of the Hills (Conqueror, Book 3)by Conn Iggulden
Harper Collins Canada; Published: 2008; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $44.70
Marchby Geraldine Brooks
Penguin Books; Published: 2006; Paperback; Book
Gates of Rome (Emperor 1)by Conn Iggulden
Harpercollins Pb; Published: 2003-09-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.80
Girl With a Pearl Earringby Tracy Chevalier
Harper Collins Audio; Published: 2002-06-17; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $86.82
Similar Books and other products
The Princes in the Towerby Alison Weir
Ballantine Books; Published: 1995-07-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.47
Price in other shops:
The Wars of the Rosesby Alison Weir
Ballantine Books; Published: 1996-06-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.95
Price in other shops:
The Children of Henry VIIIby Alison Weir
Ballantine Books; Published: 1997-07-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.85
Price in other shops:
The Virgin's Lover (Boleyn)by Philippa Gregory
Touchstone; Published: 2005-08-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.47
Price in other shops:
Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kingsby Alison Weir
Ballantine Books; Published: 2011-10-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.24
Price in other shops:
The Life of Elizabeth Iby Alison Weir
Ballantine Books; Published: 1999-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.90
Price in other shops:
The Queen's Fool: A Novel (Boleyn)by Philippa Gregory
Touchstone; Published: 2004-02-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.82
Price in other shops:
The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn (Random House Reader's Circle)by Alison Weir
Ballantine Books; Published: 2010-12-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.57
Price in other shops:
The Lady Elizabeth: A Novel (Random House Reader's Circle)by Alison Weir
Ballantine Books; Published: 2008-11-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.36
Price in other shops:
The Six Wives of Henry VIIIby Alison Weir
Grove Press; Published: 1991-01-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.84
Price in other shops: